Daily updates about Syria

11/24/2015

Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 after it said it entered its airspace:

Turkey said the jet was shot down by two Turkish F-16s after it crosses into Turkish airspace and ignored 10 warnings to return to Syrian airspace over the course of 5 minutes.

The violation is being claimed to have lasted for 17 seconds.

They said it was also repeatedly warned beforehand that it was within 15 km of Turkish airspace.

Turkey has recently been warning Russia over it’s targeting Turkmen villages and fighters in the area, and has been threatening Russia over airspace violations since Russia’s intervention began in October.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, claimed that the jet posed no threat to Turkey and was carrying out strikes against the Islamic State. He also said that the jet was 1 km inside the Syrian border when it was shot down.

He claimed this even though the IS is not present in Latakia province.

He called the downing “a stab in the back, carried out by accomplices of terrorists” and said that it “will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations.”

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, cancelled a scheduled trip to Turkey and

The jet crashed just over the border in Syria.

Both pilots ejected, although Syrian rebels released a video showing the body of one of the pilots.

Rebels claimed that both pilots were killed by rebel fire as they were parachuting down.

Fighters from the 1st Coastal Division, an FSA-affiliate,used a TOW missile (a US-made anti-tank missile) toblow up a Russian helicopter that was conducting a search-and-rescue operation to try and locate the pilots.

The helicopter appears to have been evacuated before the hit, and was forced to make an emergency landing after being hit by small-arms fire.

The Russian General Staff announced the death of a marine infantryman.

A SMART News report on a camp in Latakia built to receive 500 new families who have fled their homes due to the recent increase in fighting and Russian airstrikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf1kGjs8Ohg&feature=youtu.be

Rebels operating under the Fateh Halab operations room have launched a counter-offensive in the area to try and take back the territory captured during the government’s offensive over the last few weeks.

Yesterday rebels captured the farmlands outside of Banes, as well as villages to the north and south of the two towns.